Hi. It’s been a long while since I last posted something on this blog. Actually, I am updating KitCat’s activities on his Facebook page. However, I remembered an episode in Kittu’s life and decided to put it down here.
Kittu doesn’t make friends and Vinod and I learnt this the hard way. Kittu had been the only cat in the house for two years. We were concerned that he might be bored. We thought of getting him a companion.
Incidentally, our friend Shyam’s cat gave birth to four kittens. When Shyam called us to give the good news, we reserved one kitten immediately and promised to take it when it completed three months. Shyam had kept a female kitten for us. Those three months, we followed up on the kitten’s health and wellbeing. Shyam shared pictures of the kitten regularly. I had even begun cataloguing her pictures. She was called Cutie.
Finally, the day arrived when Cutie was to be brought home. Vinod drove to Shyam’s house in Abu Dhabi on a Friday morning in July last year and brought Cutie in Kittu’s carrier. We purposely chose to bring Cutie home on Friday so that we had two days of weekend to get her to gel with us and get her accustomed to our house.
We placed the carrier in the hall. Kittu was observing Cutie from a distance; he didn’t react. I thought all was well. I opened the carrier. Cutie stepped out. Kittu still didn’t move. He kept staring at her. Cutie was unperturbed. She was brave for her age and size. Kittu then moved closer and the unexpected happened. He hissed and snarled at her. Yet, Cutie was unmoved. I got scared for her. Immediately, I lifted Kittu, put him in our bedroom and closed the door.
We played with Cutie for a while. She was a darling. Shyam had bathed her especially for her new home. Intermittently, we would open the bedroom door to let Kittu out and see how he reacted to Cutie. He was still aggressive towards her although there was no resistance from Cutie. So, he was put back in the bedroom. We spent the whole day and night in tension.
I had read about how to get two cats acquainted and I had told Vinod to try those approaches even before Cutie came home. The idea was to get a cloth or a toy with Cutie’s smell on it and get Kittu introduced to it. This way, Kittu would get used to her smell and not feel threatened when she arrived. However, Shyam lives very far and the sheer distance discouraged Vinod from this attempt.
The next morning, we decided to send Cutie back. I felt very sorry for her. She was a gentle, playful and loving kitten. Unfortunately, Kittu didn’t accept her.
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Two months later, another friend, Sam, was to move back to the UK. He had two Siamese cats, 13-year old Suzy and her 12-year old son, Barry. Sam was looking for a temporary accommodation for his cats till he got their relocation matter sorted. Vinod offered to host them both.
Barry and Suzy came home one evening. We had already kept Kittu in the bedroom and locked the door. Barry and Suzy were grey-brown like most Siamese cats. They were quiet cats; one would hardly notice their presence. Barry, in particular, was very shy. Once out of the carrier, he ran and hid in the shoe rack. He stayed there until dinner time. Barry and Suzy ate gravy food twice a day; not like Kittu who is ready to eat 24/7.
Once in a while, we did open our bedroom door to see Kittu’s reactions and if he accepted them. But he didn’t. He hissed at them and seemed ready to attack them. We got scared. We moved all of Kittu’s belongings including his litter and food to our bedroom. Kittu was to stay in our bedroom for the next few days. However, Kittu was very curious. He would spend most of the day sitting by the door and trying to get a peek of them. Why did he have to look at those he hates, I will never know.
Just as in Cutie’s case, Barry and Suzy too seemed to have no problem with Kittu. It was just Kittu who was getting territorial. Anyway, we kept Kittu out of Barry and Suzy’s way and survived. It was not convenient because we had to remember to close the door every time we went in and came out and Kittu being the typical curious cat, always tried to sneak out of the room to hiss and snarl at Barry and Suzy. He hated them so much. Yet, that never came in the way of he eating their leftover food from their plates. Just how selfish was Kittu!
One day, Vinod decided to test how much he hated them. He placed Kittu’s food in Barry’s carrier. As much as Kittu was tempted to go in and satisfy his hunger, he felt repelled by Barry’s smell. Finally, hunger won, albeit temporarily. Kittu never accepted Barry and Suzy.
Meanwhile, Barry overcame his shyness. We discovered that both, mother and son were lap-cats. We enjoyed having them sit on our laps all evening. Finally, the day came when the relocators came and took away Barry and Suzy. Both cats didn’t want to leave. I wish I could have kept them.
KitCat, My World 